Ice-cutting machine.



G. W. PRUESS.

ICE GUTTI APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1911.

NG MACHINE.

Patented Jan. 14,1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

mswm,

Witnesses [WEI ma Attrnys O. W. PRUESS.

IGE CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1911.

Patented Jan. 14, 1913.

4 SHEET S-SHEET 2.

Attorneys.

C. W. PRUESS.

ICE CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1911.

'LGEQQQX u Patented Jan.14,1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Inventor,

Attorneys,

O. W. PRUESS.

ICE CUTTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27, 1911-.

Patented Jan.14,1913.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

Inventor Witnesses Attorneyse v m STATES PATENT- oFFIcE.

cau wrttram recess; or was! BRANCH, rows.

' Specification of Letters latent.

Ion-comma 'xacnmn.

Patented'Jan. 14, 1913.

- Application filed march 27, 19 11. Serial 110. 617,180.

to travel on a track over the ice and embodying a saw adapted to cut the ice longitudinally and laterally of the track, with means for propelling the machine and rotating the saw and for raising and lowering the saw and swinging the same at right angles to either set the saw longitudinally or laterally of the track.

lVit-h the above and other objects in view, which will be apparent as the invention is better understood, this invent-ion resides in the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and particularly pointed out'in the appended claims, 1t b'eing understood that this device is susceptible of alterations or deviations in its details within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the in vention.

The invention is illustrated in its preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters are employed to denote corresponding parts, and wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine in idle position. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof. F ig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 2, the machine being shown in position to move on the track. Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4;-4; of Fig. 3 showing the construction of the track sections and their manner of connection with each other. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of a portion of one of said sections. Fig. 6 is a sectional detail on the line 66 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a sectional detail on the line 77 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings the track comprises rails 1 having spurs 2 or other devices on their lower edges to engage the ice and prevent slipping, the rails being connected with each other by ties. 3 and oblique braces 4 and the track itself made in sections whereof the rail-ends have some form of rail joints so that the section-s may be detachably engaged together as seen at the point 5.in Fig. 1. On certain of the ties, levers 6 havsuitable manner, preferablfy ing eccentricheads 7 are pivoted as at 8 as seenin Fig. 5, so that when in the position there shown in dotted lines the track sections will rest flat upon the ice and their spurs 2 will engage it, but when the levers are thrown over to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 5 the track sections will be elevated and can he slid along the ice from point to point. It is apparent to those skilled in the art that the intermediate sec- .tions may be so attached together and braced as to prevent the same from sagging to any extent so that the spurs of the intermediate sections will engage the ice when the track is elevated, and such particular means not forming a part of the present invention need not be shown or described.

Each track section carries at a point aboutmidway between its rails a toothed rack 9 best seen in Fig. 2, and adjacent it a lon tudinal plate 10 having notches 11 in its edge at intervals for a purpose to appear below.

The truck which moves on this track is best seen in side elevation in Fig. 1. Briefly, it has a platform 15 with bearings 16 depending from its corners and carrying flanged wheels 17 which travel on the rails 1; and rising from said platform there are other bearings 18 carrying anti-friction wheels 19 for steadyin'g and supporting the turntable around the edge of the latter. To lock the turntable after it has been adjusted over the truck, I preferably provide the latter at one point with a tubular socket 20 in which is an expansive spring 21 normally raising a bolt 22 whose upper end engages a hole 23 in the turntable, and as seen in Fig. 2 there may be two such holes 23 so that the turntable can be set in two positions quartering to each other and respectively in line with and at right angles to the length of the track. This bolt may be retracted in any by means of a pin 24 projecting laterally om it and workmg in' a bayonet slot 25 in the'wall of the purpose to appear below, and journaled through this post is an upright tubular shaft 31 within which in turn is a solid shaft 32.

Said tubular shaft carries at its lower end a gear 33 which meshes with the toothed rack 9 on the track sections, and said solid shaft 32 carries at its lower end a lateral crank 3d having a depending pin 35 adapted to be moved into or out of engagement with any one of the notches 11 in the plate for a purpose to appear hereinafter.

The turntable comprises in its makeup a bed plate d0 whose shape in plan view is best seen in Fig. 2 but which is of a suficient size to rest upon the anti-friction wheels 19' and which has a central hole 41 journaled around the post and mounted on this bed plate is an engine 42 which maybe driven any suitable power such as gasolene and which is connected by a belt 43 or otherwise with the counter shaft 44; which is mounted in bearings 45 across one end of the plate 40, and from which shaft the mechanisms hereinafter described are driven. 1 might here state that said mechanisms are shown as connected with the shaft by means of pulleys and belts, but it will be understood that the connections could be by sprockets and chains, or by bevel gears and s afts, or other suitable means without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The ice cutting mechanism comprises a circular saw whose arbor 51 is journaled in the outer ends of two arms 52 which are suitably connected with each other as at 53, and the other ends of these arms are mounted loosely on the counter shaft 441 as seen in Fig. 6. Between them said shaft carries a pulley 54 connected by a belt 55 witha pulley '56 which is fast on this arbor 51, so that rotation of the counter shaft dd drives said arbor and rotates the saw 50, however the frame 52 is adjusted around said shaft.

The means for efiect-ing the vertical adjustment of the saw includes a gear (see Figs. 1, 2 and 6) rigidly secured, as by bolts 61, to the upper end of one of said arms 52, and a toothed rack 62 engaging this gear and held in firm engagement with it by a presser roller 63 as best seen in Fig. 1, so that when the rack is moved longitudinally the gear will be turned and with it the arms 52 of the frame will be caused to rise or fall so that the saw blade 50 will be elevated or depressed as desired. Said rack leads to a hand lever 64 pivotally mounted on the bed plate 40 and having a catch 65 moving over a toothed segment 66 as usual, so that by adjusting the posit-ion of the lever and latching it to the segment the cutting mechanism may be raised or lowered and held in any position desired.

s The propelling mechanism for moving the truck over the track is driven from a pulley 70 on the counter shaft 44, which pulley is belted as at 71 to another pulley 72 on a shaft which is mounted in bearings 73 of a' standard 74 and carries a worm 7 5.

noaoner Saidworm engages a worm wheel 76 which is fast on a shaft 77 that is journaled horizontally in said standard 74 and in another standard 7 8 (see Fig. 2) rising from the bed plate, and is squared or made angular as at 79 between its journals. On said squared portion slides a double conical gear 80 (and it will be understood that the squared por tions 79 might be round and have a longitudinal groove and, the hub of this gear 80 might have a round bore and a feather without departing from the spirit of my invention), the two beveled gears of the double conical gear standing at opposite sides of a bevel gear 81 which is secured as at 82 to the upper end of the tubular shaft 31 above described. it follows that when the double conical gear 80 is moved in one direction, the power communicated to it from "the counter shaft 14 will rotate the tubular shaft 31 in one direction, and its gear 33 engaging the toothed rack 9 will move the truck one way; whereas when said double conical gear is moved in the opposite direction, the result will be that the truck will move the other way; or when the double conical gear is set inan intermediate position as seen in Fig. 1 no rotation in either direction will be imparted to the shaft 31 and the truck will remain stationary on the track.

The shifting mechanism for moving the double conical gear just above described, includes a yoke 90 whose arms 91 may pass outside the ends of the double conical gear 80 as seen in Fig. 2, and whose body is held in position to do its work by a guide 9-2 rising from the, bed plate 40; and links 93 connect this yoke with a hand lever 94 suitably pivoted upon said bed plate and having a catch 95 moving over a toothed segment 96 as usual, so that said hand lever may be moved to and fro to slide the yoke in its guide and to adjust the double conical gear 80, which may be set in any position and held there by engagement of the catch 95 in the segment 96.

The truck holding mechanism (by which expression 1 mean to include those devices that look the truck against movement on the track, rather than causing it to move in one direction or the other or permitting it to stand idle) embodies a latch 100 hinged as at 101 to one extremity of the yoke and lying normally over a longitudinal slot 103 therein, through which slot projects a pin 105 at the upper end of a crank 104 which latter extends laterally from the upper end of the solid shaft 32 above described, the slot 103 being of sufiicient width to permit the pin 105 to swing freely therein. The cranks 104 and 34 are secured to the upright shaft 32 about at right angles to each other as best seen in Fig. 3, and the relative position of parts is such that when the pin 35 is in engagement with the notches 11 in the plate 10 the pin 105 stands in a forward position within the slot 103 of the yoke 90 because it is drawn toward the standard 7 4 by means of a spring 106 as best seen in Fig. 7, it being understood that the latch 100 had been previously raised by hand in order to free the pin.105. It follows that when the latch 100 is engaged to the pin 105 to hold the same rearwardly, the hand lever 94 may be swung forwardly to move the double gear 80 forwardly into engagement with the gear 81 without swinging the pin 35 sufiiciently toward the plate 10 to engage in any of the notches 11, but when the latch is raised so that it frees the pin 105, the pin 35 is permitted to engage in one of the notches 11. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the double gear 80 is out of engagement with the gear'.81, but as shown in Fig. 3, the double gear 80 is moved forwardly into engagement with the gear 81," so that the pin 35 is shown in its closest possible relation with the plate 10 when the double gear 80 is engaged with the gear 81. When the double gear 80 is moved rearwardly, it will be seen that the pin 35 will 'move farther from the plate 10, and there is therefore no possible opportunity for the pin 35 to be engaged with the plate 10 as the lever 34 is actuated, without freeing the latch 100 from the pin 105.

When it is desired to cut ice with this machine, the track sections are connected end to end, as by the pins 3 in their ties 3 as seen in Fig. 4-, the rails resting on the ice so that their spurs 2 will engage it as will be understood. As the truck progresses on the track the track sections at the rear thereof are removed and transferred in front of the truck to be connected to the sections of the track in front of the truck, as will be understood. In shifting or in setting up the'track scctionsof which there may be any desired nun1l erwhen they are connected end to end the toothed rack 9 and the notched plate 10 will be continuous, the former always being engaged by the gear 3 3 and the latter ready for engagement by the pin The operator then moves the hand lever 91 in aproper direction to throw one of the bevel gears of the double conical gear 80 into engagement with the bevel gear 81, and the power from the engine is communicated to the gear 33 which travels on the toothed rack 9 and propels the truck slowly in the proper direction. Having reached the point where cutting of the ice is to be done, the double conical gear is thrown into neutral position by the hand lever 94 andthe latch 100 is raised so that the pin 35 engages one of the notches 11 in the plate 10 to hold the truck against movement in either direction. The turn table is then adjusted so that the saw will cut on a line parallel to the track or at right angles to it, and secured in position by sliding the bolt 22 into one of the holes 23. The hand lever 64 is then manipulated to move the toothed rack 62 outward, and the outer end of the frame 52 descends and carries the saw 50 into contact with the ice. The engine will then-be started, and the saw in its rotation will cut the ice, and from time to time the lever 64 can be set forward until the saw is cutting clear through the thickness of the ice. Without interrupting this cutting action nor stopping the running of the engine, the latch 100 can be engaged to the pin 105 to free the locking pin 35 from its notch 11 in the plate 10, and then by throwing the proper gear of the double conical gear 80 into engagement with thebevel gear 81 the truck is caused to progress slowly along its track while the cutting is going on; and thereby the ice may be cut in a straight line fora distance which is limited only by the length of the track and will of the operator. Doubtless he will be doing his cutting along the open water adjacent a previous out, and his best practice would be to first make the cuts transverse to the'edge last remaining, and his longitudinal out last so that the ice would finally be severed-in cakes which would float off into the water and could be handled by an attendant; but these details need not be amplified here.

What is claimed is:

1. In an ice cutting machine, a truck designed to travel on a track, a turn table mounted on the truck, a power mechanism on the turn table, a saw carried by the turn table and connected to the power mechanism, means for raising and lowering the saw, and a driving mechanism engageable witha rack carried by the track and including a shaft passing through the truck and axially through the turn table, and means for connecting and disconnecting the upper end of the said shaft with the power mechanism.

2. In an ice cutting machine, a truck, a turn table mounted thereon, a power driven shaft on the turn table, a frame pivoted on the shaft, a saw carried by the said frame,

an operative connection between the saw and shaft, a driving mechanism carried by the truck for engaging the track and including a shaft passing through the axis of the turn table, and means for connecting and disconnecting the latter shaft with the former shaft.

3. Inan ice cutting machine, a truck, a turn table mounted thereon, a power driven shaft on the turn table, a frame pivoted to the turn table, a saw carried by the said frame, an operative connection between the saw and the said shaft, a gear carried by the frame, a rack bar meshing with the gear, a hand lever mounted on the turn table, and

means connecting the hand lever and the rack.

4c. In an ice cutting machme, a truck a turn table mounted thereon, a shaft jour-c gageable with a track and including a shaft passing axially through the turn table, a bevel gear on the upper end of the last men tinned shaft, :1 double conical gear on the former shaftto slide thereon and constrainedagainst rotation relative thereto, and means for moving the double conical gear into and out of engagementwith the former gear.

5, In an ice cutting machine, a truck, a turn table mounted thereon, a shaft journaled on the turn table, a power mechanism connected to the said shaft, a cutting mechanism carried by the turn table and connected to the power mechanism, a driving mechanism including a shaft which passes axially through the turn table, and means for connecting and disconnecting the latter shaft with the former shaft.

6. In an ice cuttin machine, a truck, a turn table mounted t ereon, a power mechanism on the turn table, a saw carried by the turn table and operatively connected to the power mechanism, a driving mechanism including a tubular shaft passing through the turn table, means for operatively connecting the tubular shaft with the power mechanism, and a shaft passing through the tubular shaft and including means in its lower end for engaging a track to lock the truck against movement.

, manner '7. In an ice cutting machine, a truck, a turn table mounted thereon, a power mech anism on the-turn table, a saw carried by the turn table and operatively connected with the power mechanism, a tubular shaft passing through the turn table, a gear on the lower end of the shaft for engaging a rack, means for connecting the upper end of the tubular shaft with the power mechanism,-

and a shaft passing through the tubular shaft and carrying a crank and a pin in its lower end for engagement with a notched plate.

8. In an ice cutting machine, a truck, a turn table mounted thereon, a power driven shaft on the turn table, a cutting mechanism connected to the said shaft, a shaft journaled on the turn table and operatively connected to the former shaft, a double conical gear slidable on the latter shaft hand constrained against rotation relative thereto, means for sliding the double conical gear, a driving mechanism including a tubular shaft passing through the turn table and having a bevel gear in its upper end adapted to mesh with the double conical gear when the double conical gear is shifted one way or the other, a locking mechanism including a shaft passing through the tubular shaft, and means carried by the turn table for holding the locking mechanism out of engagement with a track.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CARL WILLIAM PRUESS.

Witnesses:

HERMAN P. H. REHBEHN,

lTnnn. SCHNWDER. 

